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Scott Summers
Scott Summers (better known as Cyclops) was a notorious Human Mutant who served as Team leader of the X-Men as well as X-Factor. Born in Anchorage, Alaska on July 25, 1986 to Christopher and Katherine Summers, Summers was brought up alongside his younger brother, Alexander, in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 12, his father's airplane was attacked and lit on fire by an alien spaceship while the family was flying back from a vacation. With only one parachute left, Scott was strapped into it while Alex was tied to him by their mother and they were pushed out of the plane. The parachute caught fire, and Summers unintentionally used his mutant optic blasts for the first time to slow their descent. He would, however, suffer a head injury on landing that damaged the part of his brain that would have enabled him to control his optic blasts. Biography Early life Scott Summers was born in Anchorage, Alaska on July 25, 1986 to Christopher and Katherine Summers. Because of his father's career, Scott grew up alongside his younger brother Alexander in several different states including California and Washington before eventually settling in St. Louis, Missouri. He was very close to his brother and the two frequently played on sports teams together. When Scott was a young child, he was plagued by mysterious headaches his doctors could never properly diagnose. His mother feared that it might be cancer or some kind of aneurysm, never suspecting that his headaches were actually a side effect of her son's burgeoning mutant power. Unfortunately for Katherine, she would not live long enough to learn the truth. Years later in 1998, when Scott was twelve years old, his father, a test pilot in the U.S. Air Force flew the family back from Anchorage after a family vacation in his vintage private plane, a de Havilland Mosquito. During the flight, the family witnessed a Shi'ar Imperial freighter materialize above their family's plane. The Shi’ar wanted no witnesses, so the plane was set on fire. With only one parachute left, Kate Summers strapped Scott into it and tied Alex to him. She and Chris said their final goodbyes to their children and pushed them out the plane door. The parents themselves were teleported from the plane a moment before it exploded and were transported to the Shi’ar craft where they were kept as Earth specimen. The explosion of the plane set the Summers brothers' parachute on fire. During the fall, Scott used his optic blasts for the first time to slow their descent and shielded Alex from their landing with his body. Though surviving, Scott hit his head in the crash. This injury caused a slight amount of brain damage, affecting the portion of his brain that controlled his latent optic blasts, though Scott later made the conscious decision to not try to control his power. Time at the orphanage Scott and Alex were brought to the State Home for Foundlings, an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska secretly run by Mr. Sinister who had assumed the alias of Michael Millbury, and who had also registered Scott manifesting his mutant power. Because Sinister believed that Scott was the Summers child with the most potential, he had Alex adopted away from the orphanage to both separate them and render Scott emotionally vulnerable. As Nathan Masters, Sinister was the chief doctor. With the headaches increasing, Sinister secretly worked to suppress Scott's emerging mutant powers and began experimenting with a means of repressing these uncontrollable powers. He understood that Scott's recurring headaches were caused by his emerging mutant powers and, through trial and error, would find that ruby quartz glasses helped ease his pain. In order to provide a plausible application of these glasses, Sinister arranged for an optometrist to prescribe them to Scott to wear. At some point, Scott befriended the girl and fellow orphan Madelyn Pryor. To further groom Scott to his liking, Sinister had another orphan named Toby bully both Maddie and Scott. While Scott was in the infirmary being treated for injuries after a fight with Toby, a new doctor, Robyn Hanover, decided to take a personal interest in him and began trying to learn more about Scott and his background. Upon discovering this, Sinister tried to stop all further interest the Hanover woman had for his subject. Back in his guise of Mr. Anderson, the head of the orphanage, he warned Hanover to not get too personally involved in the lives of the children. He then decided Toby's usefulness had come to an end and forced him to commit suicide by jumping off the roof. Scott tried to stop him and failed, and his horror at being unable to save Toby left him more open to Ms. Hanover's attempts to get through to the boy, much to Sinister's chagrin. Learning that Scott had a love of airplanes, Robyn introduced him to Colonel Richard Bogart and his wife Tricia. However, Scott was initially frightened due to his traumatic memories of the plane crash that drastically changed his life. Despite this, the Bogarts became interested in adopting Scott. Seeking to stop this, Sinister arranged for the Bogarts to die in a plane crash. He then brainwashed Hanover into acting as cold towards Scott as the rest of the orphanage staff. Fortunately for Scott, just when he felt more alone in the world than ever, he was telepathically contacted and assisted through his nightmares by Charles Xavier and his young ward, Jean Grey, who helped him make peace with his dreams. Seeking to recruit Scott into his school for mutants Xavier was not ready to make first contact and left Scott to believe the encounter was only a dream. Although the glimpse Scott caught of them was brief, he formed a bond with Jean in that moment that would last forever. Joining the X-Men In 2002, at age 16, Scott finally ran away from the orphanage where he had spent most of his life after he learned that the Bogart's had died and nobody was going to adopt him. While on the streets, Scott's optic blast accidentally wrecked a construction crane causing its payload to fall toward a crowd of by-standards. Scott saved their lives by blasting the danger away, but the bystanders believed that he had tried to kill them and rallied into an angry mob. This incident was caught on film as well as made national headlines. The reports got the attention of three different parties: Fred Duncan, head of the FBI's mutant task force, Professor Charles Xavier, who was now actively recruiting mutants into his School for Gifted Youngsters, and the mutant criminal Jack Winters; also known as Jack O'Diamonds.The First X-Man When the police found Summers, they recognized him as the kid who was missing from the orphanage. The policemen made Scott take off his glasses, thus unleashing his blast, and Scott ran away once more. He felt himself strangely drawn to a cabin where he was welcomed by Jack O’Diamonds. Winters attempted to exploit Scott in order to access a cyclotron that would transform his body into living diamond. Xavier tracked the two rogue mutants there and engaged Winters in telepathic battle. Xavier lost the first bout when he was seemingly buried alive allowing Jack to access the cyclotron and transform himself into pure diamond. Having survived, Xavier saved Summers from arriving security and convinced the boy to help him stop Winters. Now calling himself the Living Diamond, Winters attacked both Summers and Xavier. Unable to stop their foe on their own, Xavier guided Summers on how to operate the cyclotron bombarding Winters with too much energy causing him to implode. Becoming Cyclops Xavier took the teenager back to his school and explained to him his dream of building a team of mutant operatives, fighting for peaceful coexistence. Scott agreed to join and became the first official X-Man under the codename Cyclops. Xavier also provided his costume and built a ruby quartz visor for Scott to use to control his optic blasts via a series of lenses adjusted by dials on his temples. As Cyclops, Scott became deputy leader of the X-Men and helped the Professor recruit many students. The first mutant Summers would help Xavier seek out was young Robert Drake, who could control and manipulate ice. When Drake was arrested after freezing a bully in a block of ice, Xavier and Cyclops traveled to Fort Washington. Learning that Bobby was in jail and a lynch mob sought to hang him, Xavier sent Cyclops to rescue the boy. Bobby refused to go with Cyclops and the two eventually came to blows until the mob caught up with them. Xavier soon intervened, using his mental powers to erase the mob's memories of Bobby's ice powers and invited him to join the school. Bobby agreed, and he became the second X-Man, codenamed Iceman.The Iceman Cometh Xavier next discovered a mutant who had feathered wings, Warren Worthington III, who had already established a solo career as a costumed hero calling himself the Avenging Angel. Tracking Angel down, Xavier sent both Cyclops and Iceman to recruit him just after the Avenging Angel succeeded in recovering a stolen vial of a radioactive isotope. However the isotope had an effect on the Angel's mind and he battled the two X-Men. With the isotope reaching critical mass, Xavier successfully contacted Warren telepathically and convinced him to toss the isotope high in the air where it harmlessly exploded. His sanity restored, Warren also agreed to join the X-Men, re-christening himself as simply the Angel.Where Angels Dare to Tread Soon Charles began reading about former Dundee-Crown High School football star Henry McCoy whose enhanced agility and large hands and feet identified himself as a mutant and he had recently been kicked off of his football team at Northern Illinois University for it. However, McCoy's abilities also attracted the attention of the terrorist known as the Conquistador who sought to utilize those powers for his goals of conquering the world. The Conquistador then captured McCoy and his parents before Xavier and his other students could reach him. However, after making mental contact with McCoy, Xavier sent his X-Men to rescue him and his family from the Conquistador's lair. Like the others, McCoy agreed to transfer to Xavier's school and join the X-Men taking the code name Beast.Welcome to the Club, Beast Xavier's young ward, Jean Grey, joined soon after as Marvel Girl, and the Professor's team of X-Men was complete. He began training them to hone their powers in his specially constructed Danger Room.The X-Men Early missions Now calling himself Professor X, Xavier was ready to reveal the X-Men to the world. Soon the threat of the mutant terrorist known as Magneto became very real and Xavier called upon his X-Men to prepare for their first battle against his one-time friend. Through Xavier's guidance, Cyclops and the X-Men succeeded in stopping Magneto from taking over the Cape Citadel missile base, forcing the master of magnetism to flee. Later, during an early training session Scott bested Iceman in combat. Bobby reciprocated by using his ice powers to play various pranks on Scott until he couldn't take it anymore and punched Bobby out. Due to his exemplary work in the field, Xavier selected Cyclops to act as the field leader for the team, despite Scott's initial fears that he wouldn't be able to due to the lack of control he had over his powers. Later when the mutant teleporter known as the Vanisher began stealing government secrets, Professor X offered the X-Men's aid to the government to stop him. Xavier himself defeated the Vanisher by using his mental powers to cut off his access to his powers, allowing the X-Men to easily capture him and his minions.No One Can Stop the Vanisher Later when the Angel had another personality shift following exposure to radiation unleashed by a test by Stark Industries, Cyclops and the X-Men stood back to allow the armored hero Iron Man deal with the danger posed by the Angel until he reverted back to normal.The New Iron Man Meets the Angel At about this time, Scott began to develop feelings for Jean Grey, but kept his feelings secret because he feared that his powers might someday harm her. It was about this time that Xavier soon located another mutant, the immovable Blob who was working as part of a carnival freak show and sent the X-Men to recruit him. However the X-Men soon learned the error of welcoming the Blob in with open arms when he turned out to be uninterested in joining the X-Men and later attacked the school. However, the X-Men managed to keep the Blob and his army of carnies at bay.Beware of the Blob After more training, Magneto resurfaced, this time with his own team of mutants. He and his team began causing trouble in South America. Xavier soon deployed the X-Men who battled the Brotherhood, which also included his children Pietro and Wanda Maximoff who were now reluctant members of the Brotherhood as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. When the Brotherhood was forced to flee, Xavier threw himself at a booby trapped door to save his students from the blast, and led them to believe that he had lost his mental powers as a result.The Brotherhood of Mutants Cyclops stepped up and took a leadership role later when the X-Men were lured into a trap by Magneto and were taken aboard his Asteroid M headquarters. Under Scott's leadership, the X-Men managed to escape without the aid of Xavier. Charles later revealed to his students that he feigned his lost powers as a final test to see if his students could handle themselves without his aid.Trapped: One X-Man Soon Professor X was enthralled by the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker who then used Xavier to order the X-Men to attack their foes the Fantastic Four. Although the two teams were forced to fight each other, Xavier eventually broke free from the Puppet Master's control and exposed the entire ruse. The Puppet Master and the Thinker then fled before they could be captured by the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.We Have to Fight the X-Men Not long after this, Cyclops and the X-Men were chased by an anti-mutant mob. Cornered in a blind alley the mob started throwing rocks. One rock, thrown by photographer Philip Sheldon, struck Iceman in the head. Scott told his teammates that the bigoted mob were not worth it and they fled into the night. Learning that the Sub-Mariner was also a mutant, both Xavier and Magneto sought to recruit him to their respective sides. Magneto succeeded in summoning Namor first, ultimately leading to another battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Realizing that Magneto intended to make him a subordinate, Namor refused to join. The X-Men then drove Magneto and his Brotherhood away, but in the aftermath of the battle, Namor had no interest in joining the X-Men either.When Magneto Strikes Cyclops and the other X-Men then resumed their training. First graduation Once his X-Men had completed their high school educational and training requirements, Professor X threw a private graduation ceremony for them. After the festivities, Charles showed Cyclops the secret chamber where he had completed his first version of Cerebro. He then revealed that he was embarking on a secret mission and had selected Cyclops to run the school in his absence. Although Scott was reluctant to take the position, he agreed to do so. Without Xavier, Cyclops and the X-Men succeeded in stopping the Brotherhood of Mutants from recruiting the Blob into their ranks. In Xavier's absence, the Beast was attacked by an anti-mutant mob and quit the team. Scott attempted to get the Professor's help to bring him back, but Charles assured Scott that he did all he could. Soon the X-Men faced a new mutant named Unus the Untouchable, who could erect an impenetrable force field around himself. The Beast soon returned to his friends and developed a device that boosted Unus' force fields so that he could not even touch food. Believing that the Beast was trying to help Unus, Cyclops ordered his teammates to stop him, but they failed. They soon realized that Beast hadn't betrayed them when his device made it impossible for Unus to touch food forcing him to surrender to have the effects reversed. Scott later led the X-Men in an investigation of a supposed mutant calling himself the Menace and his Mutantmen army. With the aid of Spider-Man, the X-Men revealed that "Menace" was really a group of criminals exploiting anti-mutant hysteria to commit robberies, pinning the blame on mutants. Later the X-Men joined the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man in battling the super-powerful Sundown. Charles soon contacted his students and revealed that he was searching for the alien Lucifer, who was responsible for injuring him years earlier. Charles called for his X-Men to join him in Europe. Quickly captured, Charles learned that Lucifer had armed a bomb that could blow up good portion of western Europe and that it was specially rigged to his heart, so that the bomb would go off if his heart was stopped. When the Avengers later arrived to investigate the scene. Charles had Cyclops and the X-Men hold the Avengers at bay until he was able to incapacitate Lucifer with a mental bolt. Charles then stopped the first between the two teams and explained the situation. Satisfied that the X-Men had the situation under control, the Avengers then departed. Guiding Cyclops' optic blast, Charles was able to disarm the bomb. When Lucifer revived shortly thereafter, Xavier allowed him to go free as he had been thoroughly defeated. Scott later accompanied Charles to Stony Brook University to recruit possible mutants. Although their search turned up nothing, they had a brief encounter with the Fantastic Four. Later the X-Men were invited to the engagement party of the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. Since Charles was keeping his ties to the X-Men a secret at the time, he and the students had to act as though they did not know each other. During a lull in activity, Charles allowed the X-Men to investigate reports of a savage man running loose in Antarctica. This led to the X-Men discovering the so-called Savage Land and finding an ally in it's ruler Ka-Zar during a clash with the primitive Maa-Gor and the native Swamp Men. Charles soon became aware of what appeared to be a new mutant and sent Cyclops and the X-Men to make first contact. This led to another battle with the Brotherhood of Mutants. However, this new entity turned out be the cosmic being known as the Stranger who had come to Earth to study mutants. During the ensuing clash, the Stranger transformed Brotherhood member Mastermind into dense matter and captured Magneto and the Toad to examine, while the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver decided to leave their father and go their own way. The X-Men did not have time to celebrate their victory as Charles' step-brother Cain Marko attacked the mansion. Charles explained to his students how his brother was transformed by the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak into a human juggernaut during their military service while they prepared defenses for the mansion. Unable to attack the Juggernaut's mind thanks to a psi-proof helmet, Xavier contacted the Human Torch for assistance. While the X-Men kept the Juggernaut at bay, the Torch used his flame powers to remove Cain's helmet leaving him vulnerable to attack and eventually defeat at the hands of Xavier. Scott and the X-Men were later invited to the wedding of Reed Richards and the Susan Storm. The wedding was soon crashed by an army of super-villains under the control of Doctor Doom, a long time Fantastic Four foe. Cyclops led the X-Men against attacks made by the Mole Man and his Moloids, Batroc the Leaper, the Executioner, and the monster Grogoom. Eventually Mister Fantastic dispelled the villains with a device and the wedding went on uninterrupted. While he was a skilled tactician, his social skills were lacking. Scott had fallen in love with his teammate Jean Grey, but his reserved demeanor prevented him from expressing his feelings. Scott also had to contend with Warren Worthington III, who was also romantically interested in Jean. They did eventually confront each other with their feelings though, and became a couple. In between Scott took Jean's death very hard, somehow feeling responsible and even taking a sabbatical from the team. Personality and traits Scott Summers was highly courageous, intelligent, fair-minded and possessed a dry wit. Scott was brave, self-less, and a first-rate tactician and leader. He had a very low self-esteem however, holding a low opinion of himself and obsessing over his shortcomings and failures for years. As a leader, he was very strict and no-nonsense, demanding seriousness, dedication and skill, usually earning him the dislike of more rebellious team members such as Wolverine. He strongly cared about his family, and was stoically loyal and fiercely protective of his friends, family as well as the X-Men. Like his father, Scott was a natural leader of the X-Men. But despite generally having a good heart and the best of intentions, he had his share of flaws. Scott also had a plethora of mental issues, bottling up his emotions and refusing to confront his issues, despite this affecting him adversely. Scott also blocked off his feelings with Jean Grey, whom he was afraid to get close to out of fear of his inability to control his mutant abilities at the time. His favorite color was red and he frequently listened to the radio. Relationships Family Christopher Summers Alex Summers Gabriel Summers Nathan Summers Friends Charles Xavier Henry McCoy Bobby Drake Warren Worthington III Romances Jean Grey Scott first met Jean Grey as a teenager when both were students at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. The two would bond throughout both their adventures as members of the X-Men as well as on their downtime together. As they grew closer, Scott developed romantic feelings for the young woman. However, Scott would block off his feelings for some time because he was afraid to get close to Jean out of fear of his inability to control his mutant abilities at the time. He was also concerned that she didn't feel the same way as he did and didn't want to be let down. Eventually, after having to compete with his fellow student Warren Worthington III over her affections, Scott and Jean admitted their feelings for each other and became a couple. Colleen Wing Ororo Munroe Sara Grey Aleytys Forrester Madelyn Pryor Elizabeth Braddock Emma Frost Powers and Abilities Powers Optic Blast: Cyclops possessed the mutant ability to project a powerful beam of concussive, ruby-colored force from his eyes. Cyclops's powers were believed to be ambient energies (such as solar radiation, photons, and cosmic rays) absorbed and metabolized by his body into concussive blasts released from his eyes. Cyclops's mind had a particular psionic field that was attuned to the forces that maintained the apertures that had taken the place of his eyes. Because his mind's psionic field enveloped his body, he was protected from the effects of the energies, and even the thin membrane of his eyelids was sufficient to block the emission of energy. The synthetic ruby quartz crystal used to fashion the lenses of Cyclops's eyeglasses and visor was resonant to his minds' psionic field and was similarly protected. The width of Cyclops's eye-blast seemed to be focused by his mind's psionic field with the same autonomic function that regulated his original eyes' ability to focus. As Cyclops focused, the size of the aperture changed and thus acted as a valve to control the flow of particles and beam's relative power. The height of Cyclops's eye-blast was controlled by his visor's adjustable slit. His narrowest beam, about the diameter of a pencil at a distance of 4 feet has a force of about 2 pounds per square inch. His broadest beam, about 90 feet across at a distance of 50 feet, had a force of about 10 pounds per square inch. His most powerful eye-blast was a beam 4 feet across which, at a distance of 50 feet, had a force of 500 pounds per square inch. The maximum angular measurement of Cyclops's eye-blast was equivalent to a wide-angle 35mm camera lens field of view (90 degrees measured diagonally, or the angle subtended by holding a magazine's pages spread open, upright at 9.5 inches from your eyes). The minimum angular measurement was equivalent to the angle that the thickness of a pencil would subtend at 4 feet (3.5 degrees, about a quarter of an inch viewed at 4 feet). The beam's effective range was about 2,000 feet, at which point a 1-inch beam had spread out to 10 feet square, and then had a pressure of .38 pounds per square inch. Cyclops's maximum force was sufficient to tip over a filled 5,000 gallon tank at a distance of 20 feet, or puncture a 1-inch carbon-steel plate at a distance of 2 feet. The supply of energy for Cyclops's eye-blast was practically infinite. Thus, so long as Cyclops's psionic field is active, there was the potential to emit energy. The only limit to the eye-blast was the mental fatigue of focusing constantly. After about 15 minutes of constant usage, the psionic field subsided and allowed only a slight leakage of energy to pass through the aperture. Cyclops's metabolism would recover sufficiently for him to continue in about an additional 15 minutes. When directed at the energy-absorbing mutant Bishop, Cyclops was able to overload Bishop's powers in a matter of seconds. When Iron Man measured Cyclops's power while he was powering Bishop, he found the energy output was well over 2 gigawatts, larger than a large nuclear reactor. It was also stated that Cyclops did not often use his powers at such a level due to the preoccupation he had regarding his control (or lack thereof) of his abilities. The maximum force of Cyclops' optic blasts was unknown, but a commonly given description was that he could "punch holes through mountains", and was shown to rupture a half-inch thick carbon steel plate. Spatial Awareness: Cyclops possessed an uncanny sense of trigonometry, in this sense used to describe his observation of objects around himself and the angles found between surfaces of these objects. Cyclops repeatedly demonstrated the ability to cause his optic blasts to ricochet and/or reflect off those objects in a trajectory to his liking. This was commonly called a "banked shot" when applied to this talent. Cyclops was observed to cause beams to reflect from over a dozen surfaces in the course of one blast, and still hit his intended target accurately. Energy Resistance: Cyclops was resistant to the effects of his own powers. This was linked to him being capable of withstanding his brother's ability with no ill effects. This was a result of their close genetics, a quirk of mutant genetics that was common among siblings. Low Level Telepathy: On several occasions, Scott demonstrated a small degree of telepathy, including using Cerebro once. It should also be noted that Scott possessed a psychic bond with Jean Grey. Abilities Expert Pilot: Cyclops was an expert pilot of fixed-wing aircraft, a skill he appeared to have inherited from his father. It was also implied that his trigonometric sense improved his abilities in the air. Leadership: Cyclops had spent most of his superhero career as the leader of the X-Men and developed exceptional leadership skills. It was notable that regardless of their general attitude towards him, all of the X-Men tended to obey his orders in battle because they knew that he was usually right. Master Martial Artist: Cyclops also had extensive training in martial arts and unarmed combat, holding black belts in Judo and Tae Kwon Do. His level of skill was sufficient to defeat six normal men with his eyes closed, and he had in the past held his own against such dangerous enemies as Wolverine and Ghost Rider. Weaknesses Power Regulation Disability: Due to psychological trauma at a young age, Cyclops was unable to control his optic blasts. In connection, his eyes had become too reliant on the ruby quartz he used. Emma Frost attributed the psychological trauma of losing his parents and the mental blocks put in place by Mr. Sinister as primarily being responsible for his inability to control his powers. After removing his mental blocks and overcoming his fears, he was able to open his eyes and control his blasts. Though, he still used the sunglasses and visor from time to time. Paraphernalia Equipment * Cyclops' Visor: The mask Scott wore to prevent random discharge was lined with powdered ruby quartz crystal. It incorporated two longitudinally mounted flat lenses which could lever inward providing a constantly variable exit slot of 0 inches to .79 inches in height and a constant width of 5.7 inches. The inverted clam-shell mechanism was operated by a twin system of miniature electrical motors. As a safety factor their was a constant positive closing pressure provided by springs. The mask itself was made of high-impact plastic. There was an overriding finger-operated control mechanism on either side of the mask, and normal operation was through a flat micro-switch installed in the thumb of either glove. A separate pair of lenses were also designed for Scott to use while sleeping. * X-Men Uniform: The four uniforms Scott wore were made from 9-ply Kevlar (able to withstand ballistic impact up to .45 caliber bullets) and beta-cloth, a fire-resistant material whose kindling temperature was 1,700 °F (930 °C). Transportation X-Jet, X-Copter, X-Van, a Red Audi A4, among other conventional vehicles. Appearances Notes and references Category:Males Category:X-Men members Category:Mutants Category:Summers family Category:Americans Category:Mutants (Homo superior) Category:Pilots Category:Radio personalities Category:People from Alaska Category:People from Nebraska Category:Headmasters of Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters